Probiotics For Farmed Fish

The University of Canterbury (UC) is seeking to commercialise a fish feed additive for salmon farming, which could significantly decrease cost of fish feed and omega-3 additives used in salmon aquaculture.

World fish farming is a massive industry, with annual global production of farmed salmon alone nearly reaching 2 million tonnes.

Due to the sheer scale of the industry, a notable decrease on the cost of salmon feed (typically 40%-60% of a farms operating costs) would have a significant impact in the profitability of salmon farming.

Research out of the University of Canterbury has identified a novel probiotic fish feed additive that could provide a significant reduction in the feed required for farmed fish, while maintaining fish flesh and omega-3 levels.

In mid-2013, the KiwiNet Investment Committee approved PreSeed support for this project, to accelerate the scale up of formulation and validate the current findings with the probiotic in salmon.

This PreSeed investment aims to get UC's probiotic to a point where it is market ready and can create significant economic impact in the aquaculture industry, in New Zealand and overseas.